History Main / TheSilentBob

* In ''FanFic/TheEquestrianCivilService'', the ponies of the Royal Guard are taught to communicate without either words or visible motion. Demonstrated nicely in "The Other Princess":

* Bark the Polarbear, a long-forgotten character from the video games, was reintroduced in the ''[[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comic book as a Silent Bob, teamed up with the psychotic and easily amused Bean the Duck. Bark is by far the more reasonable of the two, though he's yet to have had a single speech bubble. Not too different from Jay and Silent Bob, of course.

* Courage from ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'' tends to do this when trying to explain something to Eustace or Muriel by shapeshifting into various things. The only sounds he makes in these events are various... grunts, for the lack of a better term. However, he tends to talk normally otherwise.
* Boomhauer in ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' isn't ''silent'', exactly, but his complete and utter unintelligibility goes unnoticed by most characters, especially Hank, who according to Bobby often quotes Boomhauer's wisdom.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** DJ Pon-3 is depicted this way in her ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks Rainbow Rocks]]'' animated short as well as the film itself, communicating solely with gestures. In the novelization, she only talks through text messages, possibly due to actually being TheSpeechless. The LowerDeckEpisode shows that the same goes for her main universe counterpart as well.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Lisa's Wedding", teenage Maggie is described as being a chatterbox - but then she merely rolls her eyes at her father in silence.

-->'''Red:''' ''[[BystanderSyndrome Everyones always turns their backs un us. Everyone. Everyone,]]'' but them.

* Dopey in ''Disney/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''.

** Downplayed with Big Macintosh. There is the occasional episode where he ''does'' speak in full sentences when necessary, but most of the time his dialogue is limited to two words: "Eeyup" and "Nope". The effect he uses these words, however, is impressive.
** DJ Pon-3 is depicted this way in her ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks Rainbow Rocks]]'' animated short as well as the film itself, communicating solely with gestures. In the novelization, she only talks through text messages, possibly due to actually being TheSpeechless. The LowerDeckEpisode shows that the same goes for her main universe counterpart as well (there's no such thing as cell phones in Equestria, but she communicates with gestures when actively needing to get a point across, even when not wearing her headphones). Fan-made animations give her a voice, though, usually done by Nowacking (Jesse Nowack) of Creator/TeamFourStar.

* Gideon in ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}''.

This trope is named for Silent Bob, a character played by director Creator/KevinSmith in all of Film/TheViewAskewniverse movies, from ''Film/{{Clerks}}'' to ''Film/ClerksII'' who would only speak once or twice per movie, and instead said volumes with silence.

* Bark the Polarbear, a long-forgotten character from the video games, was reintroduced in the ''[[ComicBook/ArchieComicsSonicTheHedgehog Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' comic book as a Silent Bob, teamed up with the psychotic and easily amused Bean the Duck. Bark is by far the more reasonable of the two, though he's yet to have had a single speech bubble. (not too different from Jay and Silent Bob, of course)

** Bob caps off the gag in ''Film/JayAndSilentBobReboot'' wherein his only spoken dialogue is reciting|adapting Alec Baldwin's monologue from ''Film/GlengarryGlenRoss'' to [[spoiler:distract TheKlan while Jay saves his daughter and her multi-ethnic friends from being lynched]].
* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' movies, [=R2D2=] speaks in an odd binary code than only [=C3P0=] can truly interpret. Still, other characters - and even the viewers - often have no problem figuring out what he's trying to say (or at least his intent).

* Kevin Smith in ''VideoGame/{{killer7}}'' - the creators ''claim'' they weren't familiar with the real-life film director of the same name who played Silent Bob himself.

* All four times that [[PlayerCharacter the Playa]] in the first ''Videogame/{{Saints Row|1}}'' opens his mouth, someone gets owned. He talks normally in the sequels, however.
* Quite a few {{Silent Protagonist}}s from video games. Examples include Mario (''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''), Crono (''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''), Rudy (''[[VideoGame/WildArms1 Wild ARMs]]''), Ryu (''Franchise/BreathOfFire''), The Rookie (''[[Franchise/{{Halo}} Halo 3 ODST]]''), Gordon Freeman (''VideoGame/HalfLife''), Samus Aran (''Franchise/{{Metroid}}''), etc.

** Thomas' streak [[SuddenlyVoiced officially ended]] on February 29th, 2016, when [[http://www.aol.com/article/2016/02/29/justice-clarence-thomas-reportedly-asked-a-question-during-oral/21320335/#confab-comment-27304558 he asked a few questions during one case's oral arguments.]]

** DJ Pon-3 is depicted this way in her ''[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks Rainbow Rocks]]'' animated short as well as the film itself, communicating solely with gestures. In the novelization, she only talks through text messages, possibly due to actually being TheSpeechless. The LowerDeckEpisode shows that the same goes for her main universe counterpart as well (there's no such thing as cell phones in Equestria, but she communicates with gestures when actively needing to get a point across, even when not wearing her headphones.)

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'' plays it straight than subverts it in the The Bow Tie Asymetry episode in which Amy and Sheldon get married. In that episode Amy's mother played by Kathy Bates never lets her husband played by Teller get a word in edgewise and always answer questions adressed to him in his place. That is until she makes a scene at the wedding and and Penny tells her to zip it. Only then does Mrs Fowler ask her husband to say something and he tells Penny "Thank you."

* TheBigBangTheory plays it straight than subverts it in the The Bow Tie Asymetry episode in which Amy and Sheldon get married. In that episode Amy's mother played by Kathy Bates never lets her husband played by Teller get a word in edgewise and always answer questions adressed to him in his place. That is until she makes a scene at the wedding and and Penny tells her to zip it. Only then does Mrs Fowler ask her husband to say something and he tells Penny "Thank you."

* Bark the Polarbear, a long-forgotten character from the video games, was reintroduced in the ''SonicTheHedgehog'' comic book as a Silent Bob, teamed up with the psychotic and easily amused Bean the Duck. Bark is by far the more reasonable of the two, though he's yet to have had a single speech bubble. (not too different from Jay and Silent Bob, of course)

Compare TheSpeechless, TheVoiceless, TheQuietOne.

* [[Film/TheViewAskewniverse Silent Bob]], [[TropeNamer of]] [[CaptainObvious course]]! Since he's played by Creator/KevinSmith (the writer and director of the Askewniverse films), he has the fewest lines to memorize and some of the best dialogue, whether it's getting in a good joke, making with the wisdom, or saving the day. But the majority of the time, he just won't speak, which tends to frustrate Jay, as Bob is taciturn ''and'' the smart one. It never seems to occur to Jay that Bob is usually silent because Jay never shuts up and Bob can't get a word in edgewise.

* ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' series: Every member of the Second Foundation is this to each other, although the narrator translates all of their "dialogue" for us.

* Jason Voorhees from ''Franchise/FridayThe13th''. This is quite popular in slasher movies, as Michael Myers from ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' has it too. Michael does at one point say something, [[spoiler: "Die".]]

* Komi from ''Manga/KomiSanWaKomyushouDesu'' hardly ever talks out loud because of her overwhelming social anxiety.

* [[Film/TheViewAskewniverse Silent Bob]], [[TropeNamer of]] [[CaptainObvious course]]! Since he's played by Kevin Smith (the writer and director of the Askewniverse films), he has the fewest lines to memorize and some of the best dialogue, whether it's getting in a good joke, making with the wisdom, or saving the day. But the majority of the time, he just won't speak, which tends to frustrate Jay, as Bob is taciturn ''and'' the smart one. It never seems to occur to Jay that Bob is usually silent because Jay never shuts up and Bob can't get a word in edgewise.